History

MacArthur and Truman detested each other, and when met on 15 October, MacArthur had refused to salute his commander in chief as custom said he should. In December 1950, as his conquest collapsed, in an interview he blamed the restraints on him for the retreat. He wasn't allowed to bomb bases in Manchuria and blamed European allies for imposing the restraints. This angered Acheson and Truman by critising a high level decision in public.

15 March 1951, a day after Seoul was retaken, MacArthur stated that his goal was still to conquer the whole of Korea, Truman and Acheson had already decided to settle on the 38th parallel. Yet MacArthur kept asking Washington to bomb Manchuria and poison the Yalu river boundary. Truman infromed MacArthur ont he 20 March, that the USA was going to ask for a ceasfire along the 38th parallel. This angered MacArthur who sabotaged it which insulted the Chinese and threatened to extend the war to their territory. Truman reprimanded him but didn't fire him, his approval ratings were falling to 26 percent, while the other was popular with the public.

The last straw was when MacArthur sent a letter to the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Joe Martin, which claimed "there was no substitute to victory" and that Nationalists from Taiwan should be used. This was unacceptable to Truman and Acheson as it…